


Mistletoe Venom

by Alliswell



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Mentions of Katniss Everdeen & Peeta Mellark, Tumblr:Winterinpanem, gadge - Freeform, not particularly happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-06 03:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5400749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alliswell/pseuds/Alliswell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the <b>Winter in Panem challenge</b>, one shot, featuring Gadge with mentions of Everlark. </p><p>Madge has discovered the old tradition of kissing under the mistletoe, and decides to hang a few sprigs, for the Victor's banquet, during the Victory Tour, in honor of the winners of the 74th Hunger Games. </p><p>Not a particularly cheerful Drabble, no specific prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe Venom

**Author's Note:**

> The Hunger Games and its characters belong to Suzanne Collins. Work of fiction. 
> 
> Unbeated, I take full responsibility for mistakes of any kind. 
> 
> Thank you Chele20035 for hosting Winter in Panem! Merry Christmas! Keep warm if you're somewhere cold!

Gale trudged through the snowy streets of town, cursing under his breath, every step he took. The snow was packed and slippery, for too many feet stomping over it, dirty and gray, just like everything else in District Twelve. As if the sight of ice and coal dust wasn’t soul crushing enough, the sun had decided to disappear from the sky, leaving behind clouds as dark as the snow he was stepping on.

  
He hated the living conditions his people were forced into day after day. He hated the way his small district had to claw at straws, just to survive the season. He hated the injustice of not having a real government, one that looked after it’s citizens, meeting their basic needs of sanitation, safe working conditions, and nourishment. He never asked for much, only for fairness and justice for all; instead, Panem got the Hunger Games, fear and death.

  
He hated most things on a regular basis, but this particular winter was its own kind of awful. Above all the abuse, corruption, and neglect the districts suffered under the Capitol, he hated _his_ Catnip was currently being paraded around Panem, dolled up and fake, while the disgusting Capitolites ogled at her. No… he hated that the Capitolites ogled at her, while _that_ Merchant stuck his tongue down her throat, his hands gripping her without decorum, on national television, for the whole country to see.

  
He looked up, taking in his surroundings. He was walking through the town square, across the Justice Building looming ominously on the other side of the road. A large number of Peacekeepers stood about, overseeing young district residents (the ones old enough to work, anyway), shoveling away as much as the disgusting, gray slosh covering the ground, while a group of older, merchant men, built up the stage to be used during the televised part of the Victory Tour, at the end of the Harvest Festival, only three days away.

The sight made Gale's insides burn with a mixture of hatred and resentment towards Panem's oppressors, but deep down, he also felt a measure of relief, watching the preparations of this year's Victory Tour event.

For the first time in twenty five winters, his people would go to bed with full bellies, for the harvest festival, compliments of the only two Co-Victors in Hunger Games history. A hollow victory if ever was one, but a victory nonetheless. District Twelve's people were not going to starve to death during the harsh winter months, but the price for such 'generosity', had been steep: _The loss of Katniss Everdeen's true self._

Gale's best friend, and hunting partner had sold part of her integrity to achieve a reprieve for her district; Gale hated her for it. Gale hated that she had no choice in the matter either way. He hated knowing she had done the right thing, sacrificing herself for the wellbeing of the rest of them. Still, he felt betrayed for some unreasonable, unexplainable reason. His resentment grew, because all of that, was the Capitol's doing. 

He took comfort in knowing that at the very least, none of his neighbors would topple over, and expire due to hunger, which was an improvement from even the summer. Now, the residents of District Twelve only had to worry about staying warm. Some people would most likely still die from pneumonia or exposure, whether well fed or not.

  
Still. In three days time, Catnip would arrive home, where she belonged. Whatever resentment he felt towards her for being a Capitol puppet, he felt his chest swell with giddiness, at the thought, that once she set foot in Twelve, she’d go back to ignoring Mellark, and resume Sunday morning hunts with him, setting everything back to normal.

For the first time in weeks, Gale felt his lips lift in a half smiled, quickly wiping any traces of joy away, when one too many Peacekeepers, gave him a quizzical stare. He quicken his pace, ducking his head. It would not do, to call attention to himself, even though, he had no game on him.

He was still traipsing around town with a bushel of plants that didn’t grow inside his district’s fence, although camouflaged with other greens, easily found within the confines of Twelve. He couldn't afford, attracting the attention of the wrong people.  

  
Finally, he arrived at his destination, the Mayor’s house. He knocked on the back door as usual, patiently waiting for it to open, looking out for any misgivings in his surroundings. Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter, finally came to answer the door, greeting him with a broad smile, not that they had ever been friends, that was Catnip’s domain.

But, being friendly with merchants, was a necessity.  Albeit, it was only this particular merchant Catnip was actually fond of, it had always been Catnip the one to keep things cordial with the business owners they usually traded with. Gale was only comfortable with the business transactions, feeling any pleasantries always needed to be kept to a minimum.

  
“Morning, Gale! It’s so nice to see you!" Said the blonde brightly. "What do you have for me today?” the girl asked seemingly happy to be standing there in the freezing cold, wearing only a shawl over a wooly knee-length dress. Gale almost snorted.

  
“Brought you what you ask for,” He said wearily, reaching inside his bag for the bushel of greens he had collected. “I hope these are the ones you were looking to get. It was the only ones I could find anyway.” he pulled out the bouquet of mistletoe and thrusted it in her direction.

  
The girl positively beamed at the sight of the plant as she took them from him. “You found it! Oh my word! I could kiss you right now!” She exclaimed bouncing up and down excitedly. Gale balked at her words, scowling mightily as he watched her overly excited reaction.

  
“Coin will do.” He said dryly, giving her pause. 

  
Understanding flicked in the depths of her pale blue eyes, before narrowing a fraction. “It was and expression.” She huffed out, giving him a pointed look, “I was not really offering a kiss in payment..." The usually quiet girl said in a leveled tone of voice, then she added under her breath annoyedly, "The mistletoe has to be hanging above our heads, in order for that to happen,”

  
“What was that?” Asked Gale irritably. "I didn't quite caught what you said." 

  
Madge took a deep breath, stepped outside her house, looked in every direction possible, and once she was satisfied no one was watching them, she stepped into the back alley, past Gale, closing the door behind her softly. She motioned for him to follow her. He did merely out of curiosity, plus, she still hadn’t paid for his wares.

  
“Look,” She said in a low whisper, once out of sight from the street. “I've been reading some books. Lots of them actually. They date from before the dark days. Some are stupid novels, that only serve to entertain, while others I can’t quite understand, since they are about science and complicated things, kids in school are regrettably not taught about,” She looked around once more, then set her big, blue eyes on his gray ones, a hint of secrecy hidden beneath. “But there are some, quite interesting.”

  
“Like what?” Suspiciously, Gale searched the girl's eyes; the whole thing could be some ambushing set up. No way anyone would trust forbidden information that easily in the open, in the middle of town, with a person they barely knew.

But, her eyes only denounced excitement when she whispered the word “History!” In awe and wonder.

"History?" Gale asked dryly. Skeptically. He had no idea what kind of history book she could've been reading. If it was the Capitol approved text books used in school, he'd loose interest right away. "What kind of history?" 

She grinned at him, Gale was stricken with how pretty she was, specially when she started to explain the contents of her history books. Her excitement was contagious.

“Well, some of them, are about far ago wars, the strategies that won them, or the mistakes that lost them. There are some about lands that don’t exist anymore, with maps and pictures of lost civilizations. Those are my favorites. The ones that speak about the way of life of our predecessors! I love learning about the customs and traditions, of people from North America, before the birth of Panem. I find the whole thing exciting!” Her tone is conspiratorial, like she’s sharing some forbidden, exhilarating secret.

It was actually a big secret, one that could land them both in a heap of trouble. Reading things from before the Dark Days, let alone own books of history predating Panem was a dangerous thing, but if she has access to literature, that could teach him about successfully overthrowing corrupt governments, then it couldn't be that bad, talking to Madge, could it? She could knock herself out, filling her own head with notions of dead traditions, while he filled his with the books about wars... He absently wonder, what would take to convince her to lent him a book, or two?

  
“Where did you get the books?” Gale asked dreading the townthe girl could hear the barely tempered excitement he felt. The less he knew about where the accursed books came, the better, still, he couldn't help himself.

  
“They were hidden away in the attic.“ She replied easily, gesturing vaguely back to her house.“I think, at one point they were supposed to be burned," she added pensively, after a short pause, "Somehow they were spared. Put away in a strangely dry and dark room. Best conditions for preservation, they could afford such old books. Some are very fragile, regardless.” She commented, glancing back at the top floors of her house.

Gale could hear the hinting implication. Someone had purposely saved and stored the books away, in the last place anyone would look for treasonous articles. Maybe there was more to the mayor's daughter, than met the eye. 

  
“What does the mistletoe have to do with anything?” He asked harsher than he intended.

  
“Oh… well… it’s part of an extremely old tradition,” She said sheepishly, embarrassedly almost, “It's a harmless, mostly sweet practice." She lowered her eyes to the plant, "In ancient history, Mistletoe, was thought to be linked to fertility, romance and physical closeness.” She peered up at Gale through very long blonde lashes.

  
Now Gale couldn’t resist the urge to snort. “That plant is not any of that! No wonder those people got extinct! This plant you call mistletoe, is toxic… poisonous. I’d be careful what I do with it, if were you.” He said dismissively, and to that she only smiled wanly at him.

  
“I know. So did they, after a while.” She responded simply, confusing Gale.

  
“Huh?”

  
She rubbed her forehead, and shifted her stance a little, leaning on the brick wall of her house. “Well, the people back then… they weren’t stupid, at least not completely. Yes, they got it a bit wrong initially, but they even found some healing properties to the plant, or so they thought,” She said diplomatically.

  
“So what are you doing with it? Trying to brew medicine? Poison?” Gale groused looking at the mistletoe that Madge was currently holding gingerly by the stems.

  
“Not exactly.” She looked away from him and blushed slightly. “There’s a tradition that survived the early uses of mistletoe… the _kissing under it_ one." She returned her gaze to his. "I thought it would be fun to put up the plant around the house for the Victor’s banquet… I think it’ll give certain people the opportunity to approach someone and, you know… try and kiss them.”

  
Gale visibly bristled at the mention of the Victors, and then again at hearing the word _kiss_. Kissing Victors was a very sore subject to him at the moment, so his already somber disposition soured a great deal.

  
“That’s an incredibly ridiculous tradition. not to mention that the so called Victors don’t need any encouragement to shove their tongues down each other’s throats. It’s disgusting, really.”

  
“I wasn’t thinking about Katniss and Peeta together, you know... No. I’m only interested in seeing one of them under the little branch,” She said dreamily, quietly. Her blue eyes staring at the plant without really seeing it. She plucked one green leaf and absently study it for a moment.

Gale only gaped at her, but before he could accuse her of targeting Peeta, she spoke with a tinge of amusement in her voice.

“You know, you and Peeta aren’t the only people that like her.” The blonde didn’t meet the boy’s gaze.

Gale grunted. He was well aware of that fact, Peeta himself had alluded to it during his initial interview for the Games. To Gale's chagrin, Catnip was a popular gossip topic amongst boys of any age. Even unattached miners, talked about her, and just because her Victor status.

“Yeah, she's popular. Not that she'll ever believe you if you'd told her. What’s your point? Are you trying to help someone else get a peck from her? because that’s not very friendly form your part.” He spoke bluntly, rather rudely.

  
“No,” she dragged her answer, glaring at him. Sighing deeply, Madge let the tiny leaf pressed between her forefinger and thumb, fall to the ground. “My _point_ is,” she met his steel eyes head on, “Even if she isn’t really able to openly pursue a relationship with you, at least you are closer to her, than any other person will ever be to… well, a relationship... other than Peeta of course, but then again, we both know where her and Peeta are heading, whether is real or not,”

Gale was livid by her comments. He knew Madge was painfully right, but he refused to accept it. Catnip didn't owe Peeta Mellark anything, and sooner or later, she'd finally grow a spine, breaking free from her Capitol imposed romance.

Madge continued, oblivious to Gale's thoughts. “I don’t want Katniss kissing any more people than she has to already. There’s no need for you to act like an ape about it. I'm not the one creating this unfair circumstances,”

  
Madge’s tone was angry, reproacheful, still, Gale sensed the emotions where not directed at him. He peered at her for a moment, gauging her sincerity and seriousness.

“What are you saying exactly?” He asked cautiously.

  
She stared at him for a moment, her eyes cataloguing his features and reactions. Finally, she shook her head, and spoke.

  
“You know how people from the Seam tend to favor one another?" She didn't wait for his answer, "But, with the two of you... the resemblance is uncanny.” She stopped for a moment, and cocked her head to the side, leaning sideways against the brick wall. “It must be all that time you spend together with each other; I read somewhere that people start to resemble one another, after they’ve gone a number of years sharing life together,” she shrugged, before adding "Then again, it could be that you truly are related. Some very distant relation or something. Twelve's pool of inhabitants isn't that extensive after all." 

  
“Where did you read that, about people looking like each other after spending time together? It sounds like a load of crap to me, and you still didn’t answer my question…” Lashed out Gale, impatiently. Madge's insinuation grated him the wrong way. Him and Catnip weren't, even remotely, related to one another. 

  
“It doesn’t matter, Gale,” Madge changed her posture again, along with her tone, “All I’m saying is that, you should stop brooding all the time, like a bitter old man. She has enough problems to deal with as it is, without you acting like she’s purposefully offending you…” He cut her off mid sentence.

  
“What I do, or don’t do, is my business. I’m not gonna let a towny brat, such as yourself, chastise me for however I feel,” Anger and shame dripping from his words, Madge didn’t seemed particularly impressed by his outburst, not even flinching nor rising to his level.

  
“I’m not saying that you have to like, or even agree with her new life style. All I’m saying, is that she needs her friends, and if you care about her as much as I think you do, then you should stop acting like brat yourself. She isn’t doing anything to mess with you. She’s just being a Victor. The life of a Victor demands sacrifices. And believe it or not, she needs your support and understanding.” She whipped her tall pony tail to one side, shrugging and flicking at her short but polished finger nails.

  
“Well, it seems that the position for _understanding_ friend has been filled,” He snapped, “So you can save yourself the lectures, and go back to hanging your mistletoe and observe your silly… dead, ancient traditions. I’m too busy trying to feed my family, to care about the life of Victors. Victors who have too much to eat, and too little to worry about,” He was back to feeling righteous. In his mind, Madge… and even Katniss, where beneath him, for the simple fact, they didn't have to struggle to survive.

  
“Ugh! You are such an impossible ass! I’m not even sure what Katniss  sees in you, anyway.” The girl exclaimed in disgust, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, right under her breasts.

  
Gale looked at her chest for a moment, his mind wandered away from him, before his hotheadedness reeled him back to the argument.

He was a man after all, he wasn’t blind. Madge being a merchant descendant, and the mayor’s only child, had had more food than any girl in town. Where her chest was modest in size compared to Capitol women, in District Twelve, she (and maybe Delly Cartwright), had the most ample set of breasts in the whole district. Unfortunately for Gale, Madge had noticed him staring at her bosom.

  
“What is it to you, any way? You can have anything, and anyone you want!” Raged Gale motioning his hands above his head, looking perfectly outraged. Madge wasn't affected by his aggression. 

  
“You are wrong Hawthorne!" She told him flatly. "I can’t _have_ what I want… no matter how much I try, what I want will always be out of my reach. I can't have an occupation in politics, and I can't have the person I want, nor will the life I dream of, be ever a possibility for me." Her eyes were stormy, contemptuous, Madge Undersee wasn't the shy little thing others perceived.

"I can't have everything I want, Gale, just because, I was born in Panem. Just because I was born female!” She seethed.

  
Gale was speechless. All he could do was stare at her disconcerted, and noticed how pretty she was when absolutely pissed off. Madge was everything Katniss was not; both strong in their own way, but where Katniss had prooven to yield under her Victor expectations, Madge was openly, committing treason with her words. 

  
“Who is it that you want, Madge?” Whispered Gale cautiously.

Her blue eyes narrowed dangerously at him. She only lingered a moment, before replying.

  
“A Seam rat,” Her voice was steady and sure.

  
In an instant, Gale backed her into the freezing bricks, pressing his mouth to her’s, his larger body squeezing her's into the wall. She was warm and soft, and smelled lovely, like summer wild flowers. Her lips were sweet and pliable under his, and his hand reached to caress her blushing, cream color cheeks. After a moment, she broke the kiss slowly, sighing deeply, just a hair’s breadth from his lips.

  
“Have you kissed her?” She asked dazedly, “Katniss?” She added, as if Gale needed clarification.

  
“Yeah,” He breathed out softly, “Only once. After she came back from the games. Never since.” He answered softly, brushing the tip of his fingers across her cheek and jaw. 

  
“That’s… That’s great, Gale." She gasped smiling softly. "I don’t think I’ll ever try kissing Peeta…” a soft chuckle left her lips, and she shook her head ruefully. “Not that I’ll actually _want_ to kiss Peeta. He’s more of, Katniss flavor of choice… mine is more… like you,” she chuckled again under her breath, looking deeply into Gale's gray scowling eyes. 

  
Gale was confused for a moment, “What do you mean, _like me_?” he voiced his confusion, he was certain she had been hinting she wanted _him_ , not someone _like_ him. "Mellark wouldn't be her choice, if you made her choose anyway." He muttered under his breath, looking away from her.

 

Madge gave him a sad smile, caressing his face softly.

  
“You and her really could be related, based solely on your looks,” She reached up on her toes, and gave him a soft peck on the lips. When she lowered herself back on her feet, she spoke soothingly, "Just because the Capitol forced an elaborated romance on them, doesn't mean they had any control, over the way Katniss and Peeta had stolen glances at each other, all throught school," She tried to smooth out the scowl from his face, with her soft hands. "Believe me, I've seen it happening for years, alas, I doubt she was conscious she was staring at him, as much as he did her.

 

When the creases in Gale's forehead deepened, Madge added wisely. "She didn't choose this relationship, but she chose to save his life, by perpetuating the love story." He snorted derisively. "She only did, what she had to, to survive the games. Don't judge her for it. That'll be unfair."

"Whatever." He huffed irritably. "She'll never marry. She told me. She will never marry him, nor anyone," 

Madge giggled and Gale wasn’t following, "Well, that's a relief. I hope it works out for her." Her mischief evident in her eyes.

He frowned, still not understanding her meaning. 

"Think about it." She said amusedly, "It would terrible if she decided to break off her courtship with Peeta, and started one with you, of all people." She giggled again, and he felt himself starting to loose patience.

"What's funny about that?" his hands had squeezed her sides, roughly.

She didn't seemed to mind much, she only blurted her answer in a fit of giggles, “Kissing cousins… so Twelve! How backwards and strange,” She rolled her eyes when her last sentence was said in an affected capitol accent. Before he could do, or say anything, however, Madge had taken one of Gale's hands, splaying it heavily over one of her soft, breasts, “I bet her kisses are worth any ridicule they'd throw at you,"

With her hand still covering his large, calloused one, she squeezed her soft mound and sighed. Closing her eyes, she breathed out, "I bet her lips are soft, and plumped, and sweet…"

Gale's brain was still lagging behind, but his body was on par with Madge, stirring awake, and proud, at her words, and the feeling of the weight of her breasts in his hand.

"You look so similar to her. Does that mean you taste like her? Let me taste your lips Gale, maybe you do. Maybe I can still find her taste in you.”

  
It was stupid she asked for another kiss, when their lips were already colliding against each other, but something registered in Gale’s mind right then. Madge wanted to kiss him, because he might taste like Catnip.

"All your talk about kisses under mistletoe... was for yourself," Gale stated against her lips.

"I would drink all the mistletoe venom in the world, just for the chance of telling her how I feel about her," Her mouth was demanding on his. Their kiss was all teeth, and nips, and pulling of lips. Rough and hard. A frustration release.

Gale finally understood Madge's comment about him, being closer, to achieve Catnip’s romantic attention. He disagree about the part concerning Peeta, but he understood her yearning. Unlike Gale, Madge was not jealous of either him or Peeta, she had simply accepted she'd never have a chance with the object of her affections.   

  
Madge was one of the _other_ people who liked Katniss, and as closed as the two girls had become, Madge still couldn’t approach her with her feelings, it was taboo in Twelve, and frowned upon by the Capitol.

Same sex relationships did not yield children to be sent to slaughter. Madge urging him to be a good friend, to Catnip, was probably as much as she could protect her, show her love and commitment to her.

As the kiss deepened, and morphed into something animalistic, Gale mused, squeezing his hands over breasts and butt checks: Madge had already accepted her feelings would never be acknowledge, let alone reciprocated. She'd resigned herself to the notion that Katniss would be Peeta’s wife someday as well, but, that didn’t have to be him.

He still had a chance, he reasoned. He was more the right type of gender. He was not related to Catnip. He was close to her. He still had a chance to woe her, make her defy the Capitol, stop the charade with Mellark. They could run. Run from a future the Capitol had planned for them. He still had time, he could still convince her to escape into the wilderness, to never return again. 

  
The pressure of Madge’s lips on his, was ravenous, insistent, he simply yielded to her. What could he harm by giving her an outlet, they both clearly craved. He pressed his stiffening manhood against her belly, causing her to gasp and moan. She promptly attacked his neck and jaw, until he felt himself getting uncomfortably tight in his trousers. She stopped the kissing then, and pressed her hands into his chest to separate them from the other.

  
“I should go back inside,” She said sliding her hands from his chest into his waist. “You could come in if you'd like..." She offered faintly.

He nodded mutely, and followed her into the big house, as she led him into a hallway by the back door, and into a spared storage room, she looked over her shoulder, and tossed coyly at him, "If you happen to come across any more mistletoe, bring it to me… I’ll make it worth your while,” She said smirking deviously at him.

  
“I’m sure you will,” Gale chuckled, stepping closer to girl, “Tomorrow. I'm sensing, tomorrow I’ll find more, I will bring them to you, and you will negotiate right in this very room.” His voice was husky and dark, and his smile wolffish and wide. 

  
She smiled in kind, “You’ve got yourself a deal, mister Hawthorne.” She whispered into his mouth, closing the door behind her. 

 

  
Their next encounter was angry, messy, loud and sorrowful. They, along with the rest of Panem, witnessed, during mandatory viewing, the moment when Peeta Mellark dropped to one knee, and poured his heart out begging his lover and co-Victor, Katniss Everdeen, to marry him… She answer, and resounding _yes_.

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Note: My head canon, is that Madge had deeper feelings for Katniss, than mere friendship. Maybe she knew their mothers had been friends as teenagers, maybe she was attracted to her, maybe she felt protective of Katniss; the truth is, in canon, everything Madge did was to help Katniss, even Gale's morphling, that she brought in the middle of a snow storm was for Katniss, much like Peeta had stood in front of Thread to protect Gale at the whipping. Also, in my mind, Madge has access to books she avidly reads, pre-Dark Ages. She's smart, a bit of a quiet rebel, and with strong convictions. 
> 
> Hope you liked my attempt at Gadge, based of my head canon. Gadge is not a pairing I normally write about.
> 
> Find me on tumblr @alliswell21
> 
> Happy New Year everyone!


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